SHIELD Encrypted Email Server
by Aminara
Summary: Two new field agents correspond about their daily life in SHIELD. This story is being built as a letter-writing game between me and a friend, pen name lomiel , as a project of admiration for Avengers, and more specifically, Hawkeye.
1. Chapter 1

Hey Solitaire,

How are you settling in? Where'd you end up anyway? We hadn't been assigned last time I saw you at training. I ended up in South Korea, the base is *OMITTED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES* outside this small town.

I don't know what I was expecting after becoming a field agent exactly. I mean, obviously we were never going to be sent out on a special assignment every other week with one of the regulars (or dare we dream—one of the Avengers team?), but I never imagined desk duty.

Seriously, 90% of the day here is spent monitoring radiation levels in the arctic regions, the other 10% is spent making and drinking the coffee necessary to stay awake while monitoring radiation levels in the arctic—watching grass grow would be more entertaining. We do still get training in basic maneuvers and hand-to-hand, but that only happens once a week, one blessedly un-boring morning a week. So far it's all basics, but there are rumors going around that we might be getting a specialist soon…No one has any idea who it'll be but I know who I'm hoping for.

So seriously, where are you? And for that matter, what's your real name? It's great that you had your codename figured out already and everything, but if we ever wanted to meet outside of a highest-level security facility a name would be helpful. Is anything interesting happening at your end? We can only hope that you didn't end up on desk duty, or that if you did, it's for something more dynamic than minutely shifting radiation levels (the aurora should be lovely right now if you're anywhere that far north).

Speaking of codenames, everyone here already has theirs figured out. I guess staring at a wavy line for hours gives you plenty of time to think. I still don't know. This is something that's going to stick with us forever; I can't just pick anything to get it over with. What if we end up regular agency names, like, for example, Hawkeye? That's an awesome name! I'm willing to bet he didn't pull it out of a hat. Solitaire is right up with its thinly veiled awesomeness too, and I'm sure you spent some time on it. Why can't I think of anything?

Anyway, I hope you're settling in alright, with a good team and a decent location. Can't wait to hear from you, it's only been a few weeks since basic training but I miss you already!

Sincerely,

Amy Morgan (_Agent_ Amy Morgan)

SHIELD Base 445-160


	2. Chapter 2

Dear Amy,

I have to say that I'm just a little jealous right now of your cushy/boring assignment. I feel like I haven't hardly had a chance to breathe since the assignments were handed down, and my body is just a ball of sore muscles. We spend most of our time practicing and drilling when we're not in class. And oh, the classes! I loved taking the required language classes in Field Basics, but now that I've been placed in undercover special assignments, the language training is much more intense. I have daily work toward fluency in Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and French (you know how I feel about French!), as well as off-day intro classes for Arabic, Farsi, and Swahili, for when an op here in Germany goes wildly off-course and we crash-land in Uganda, I guess? Then there's endless in-depth training about the military, economic, political, and social history and current situation in these countries, usually in the relevant language, and by that point my brain feels like it will explode. After which we go out for advanced weapons and tactical training before cleaning our barracks and collapsing into sleep. I thought that after we graduated and became field agents, the training schedule would slow down a bit, but apparently not!

Ah, I guess I should have mentioned earlier that I've been stationed in *REDACTED*, Germany, which could have been much worse. I don't know if you know, since things were a bit crazy after assignments came down, but both Satoshi (poor man, the terrible nickname we gave him is going to solidify into an official codename if he's not careful, so I've been trying to avoid using it since our little mishap) and Adele were stationed here with me. Adele's mood has improved somewhat now that she's back in her own country, and she even smiled slightly at something Satoshi said the other day. Don't die of shock-the sky didn't fall in, though I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing in the distance. I still get my ass handed to me every day in training by her with no sign of mercy, so not much has changed on that front.

Speaking of laughing at Satoshi, though-I guess we shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss his sulkiness around the end of training as simple peevishness about what happened in the training simulation. He's been even more mopy since we got here, and nothing seemed to able to return him to his former carefree bravado until I mentioned that I'd recieved permission to write to you through the encrypted email. He perked right up at your name, but when I asked if him if he wanted me to mention anything to you, he just growled something unintellible and went back to cleaning his gun with unnecessary concentration. So I guess it isn't just me that misses you...

So were any of our fellow trainingmates stationed with you in Middle Of Nowhere, Korea? It sounds like a blast (not really) but I'm sure some excitement will be coming your way soon. Let me know if anyone...interesting shows up there. There's been talk here of a special deployment for a situation developing somewhere in East Asia, so maybe I'll get a chance to do some actual fieldwork instead of just studying. I'll keep you posted.

It's almost lights out and I'm beat. I'll try to write more next time.

Solitaire

P.S. For now, I think that will be safer and easier for us both if I just stick to using Solitaire.


	3. Chapter 3

Solitaire,

Safer? Not going to lie; now I just want to know more…but I guess it's your name. Keep it to yourself if you want.

Only one member of our class came out here with me, and it's Wade Gregors. Do you happen to know what the court martial process is for manslaughter in SHIELD? I can't quite recall, but there's an excellent chance I'll be finding out firsthand. Becoming a field agent has made him an even bigger asshole than before (if that's even possible. I had my doubts).

I'll admit I'm a little happy to have dodged your workload, I'm not great with languages if you recall—recently I've mastered saying hello and ordering coffee in Korean (and I use the term 'mastered' loosely), but that's about it. For you, however, that has to be kind of amazing, even if it is exhausting. Regardless, I would trade you workloads to get the hell away from Wade Gregors. We're a small base here, so it's damn near impossible to avoid anybody.

Adele…smiled? Are you sure it wasn't a trick of the light? Or a grimace? There's an agent here named Winifred Smith, she's about 4 foot 11, and can't weigh more than a hundred pounds, but I'd be willing to bet she could give Adele a run for her money in hand-to-hand. In the last two weeks I've seen her take down every other agent on base in training, and without even breaking a sweat. She's wicked fast, and ridiculously flexible. I don't know where she keeps her muscles, but she can floor a guy three times her size in a matter of seconds.

Our designated driver is Mallard. His real name is James McDermott but he picked Mallard as his codename and that's all anyone calls him. Every so often he gets heckled for naming himself after a duck, but he just kind of smirks and shrugs it off. I asked him about his 'designated driver' status the first week, and as he put it—if it has the words, 'heli', 'plane', or 'glider' in it, he can fly it. When I asked him why he wasn't the 'designated pilot' then, he just laughed and asked whoever heard of a designated pilot. I never was good at jokes.

The resident computer expert is Dorothy Park, who everyone calls Dot. She's the one who taught me how to say hello and order coffee, and she laughs hysterically every time I try to say anything in her home language, so draw your own conclusions about how bad my accent is. Dot is also responsible for training us on how to interpret the read outs we're getting from all that thrilling North Pole radiation. You'd think it was poetry from a secret admirer the way she goes on about it.

That's weird about Satoshi. I guess we should feel a little bad about training, but it _was_ funny at the time. I don't know, the more I think about it, even lame codenames have their advantages. If Agent Smith wanted to be called 'snail' or something, no one would expect her to wrap her legs around their torso and chuck them through a window…it lends the element of surprise. Hey, do you think command would approve a trade, Satoshi for Wade? Germany is…far, and I don't have any amount of leave for the next four months. We haven't even been off base yet. I hope you get sent on that op, get a little closer to my neck of the woods. No ops for us right now, but there is a rumor of supplemental training. I'll have to look into that.

We got word of who our specialist is—some guy named Roach. I'm a little worried about exactly what his specialty is. I'll have to look him up before he gets here. Not going to lie, I was seriously disappointed. Marksman training is always beneficial for field agents! Yeah, I know there are a lot more master marksman in SHIELD than just Hawkeye, but I can have dreams…

Later,

Amy

SHIELD Base 445-160


	4. Chapter 4

Solitaire,

I'm going to assume you go that remote op in Asia. Anywhere near me? It'd be nice to hang out for a while. I don't think I'm going off base again anytime soon. We went out last weekend and it was a disaster.

Why didn't I think of a cover story? That's basic stuff. First day of covert operations training type stuff, and I didn't think of a freaking cover story before I left base! Stupid! Anyway, luckily I didn't screw everyone on base; I just embarrassed myself and had to flee our first night out in a month. Even if I wasn't prepared, how hard is it to think of a dummy last name and remember that nearly every foreigner in this country is here teaching English in some private school?

Okay, actually I didn't know that second part, about most of the foreigners teaching English somewhere. Mallard told me about it when he got back. I was still sitting inside the helicraft hangar feeling sorry for myself. He found me sitting behind the weapons crates and hung out for a while—told me about the English school thing (hagwons or something like that), and helped me think of an alias to use when we go out. Still can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.

So, as it turns out, Roach is an agent from the States. He's a mutant with adaptation abilities, and he's going to teach us camouflage. Also cool, Agent Romanoff walked in right behind him. Black Widow is on base. She's going to be working with Roach in stealth training. It's exciting to be getting specialized training, of course, but…stealth? I couldn't even think of a decent cover story when put on the spot. I don't think stealth is exactly going to be my forte.

Anyway, hope to hear from you soon. I want to hear all about the op if you got it!

-Amy


	5. Chapter 5

Solitaire,

That must be some mission, huh? I want to hear from you the instant you get back! Are there any extra _special_ agents out there with you?

There is literally NOTHING happening here! We went out again—if that counts. Dot dragged me along, as I did not want to go after the humiliation of our last outing. At least I had a cover story this time, even if I didn't get the chance to use it.

It was actually early when we first got off base, so we went to the park near *REDACTED* and hung around by the fountain for a while. There was a food vendor there and Dot made me try something called duk-boke-ee…really not sure how to spell that. It was chunks of rice cake floating in red sauce and while delicious, it burned for hours.

It was weird though, everyone at the park stared at me like I had three heads or something. Literally everyone, ladies with babies, men in suits, children…everyone did a double-take, or outright stared, and there was pointing and giggling and it was very uncomfortable. Apparently, I'm funny looking. Just as the staring was becoming slightly less uncomfortable, however, some older guy sat down next to me and kept asking me if I was Russian. No matter how many times I told him 'no' he just kept repeating the question, until Dot heard him and told him off in Korean and he kind of sulked off.

Yeah…apparently asking a woman if she's Russian is code for, "are you a prostitute?" Thanks random man, it totally made my day to be mistaken for a hooker. Not that he was alone. It happened again at the bar…twice. I didn't stick around too long. Bar hopping isn't really my thing, it turns out.

There was a minor spike in our North Pole readings last week. We all got a little excited and promptly reported it to command, only to have it immediately disregarded as solar flare activity.

Solitaire! I know you're either on or prepping for a mission of epic proportions, but if you have any time at all, please give me something to talk about that's not drunken Korean businessmen or radiation levels in the arctic!

Your friend dying of boredom,

Amy


End file.
